Introduction

Curiously there is a prevailing primitive sense that those
most central to the dysfunctional dynamics of the world can be distinguished
in terms of binary logic as "us" and "them". "Us" are
necessarily the "good
guys" acting appropriately, whether the criterion is economic growth,
profitability, sustainability, advance of knowledge, peace-keeping, democratic
values, spiritual insight, etc. "Them" are necessarily the "bad
guys" frustrating and undermining
such worthy initiatives. This logic most explicitly drove US foreign policy
in the formation of the Coalition
of the Willing in response to 9/11.

The logic continues to be fundamental to such ongoing conflicts
as: Israel-Palestine, developers-conservationists, "clashes
of civilization" (Afghanistan, etc), "axis of evil" (North
Korea, etc), interfaith discourse by which "right" and "wrong" are
defined to isolate the "unbelievers" (Catholicism and others, Judaism
and others, Islam and others, etc). The phenomenon is evident
in the "two culture" conflict
between science and the humanities -- in which, for example, the latter may
be simply framed as misguided or deluded by the former. It is as fundamental
to the relation between governmental and nongovernmental bodies, as it is
to that between profit-making and nonprofit-making bodies. It is inherent
in the impoverished relationship between "mainstream" and "alternative" worldviews,
or between the formal and the informal (ie "black") economies (Interacting
Fruitfully with Un-Civil Society the dilemma for non-civil society organizations,
1996).

It is also reflected in male-female relationships,
especially when any discrimination is associated with such conflicts (Afghanistan
and the burkha, etc). It is obviously fundamental to relationships based
on colour and typically defined in binary terms (as under the apartheid regime).
Ironically "colour" is used to distinguish the political extremes
of right and left between which similar dynamics prevail. In each case there
is little question who are the "good
guys"
and who are the "bad guys" -- depending on the group with which
the observer is identified, especially when detachment is not an option,
as with the Coalition of the Willing (You
are either with us or against us) -- and the declaration to that
effect by Hillary
Clinton (2001),
currently US Secretary of State..

In endeavouring to respond to such conflicts, the main strategy
envisaged is to convert the "bad guys" into acquiring the values
and behaviours of the "good guys". In terms of any negotiation,
this is the classical Getting
to YES: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In (1981). The "good
guys" are those "in agreement", who "sing from the same hymn sheet";
the "bad guys" are "off programme". Again the difficulty is that each "side" is
engaged in precisely that strategy by means that may be most questionable
to the other in seeking to increase their negotiating power and winning the "battle
for hearts and minds".
This is exemplified by the use of inhumane weaponry and suicide bombing in
the Iraq-Afghanistan arena -- exacerbated by "enhanced interrogation".

The other side is readily labelled as fundamentally, if not
diabolically, "evil" -- with a degree of implication as to the
(ev)angelic nature of those opposing its initiatives. There is no question
of any degree of significance or legitimacy to the views of the other. All
would in fact be wonderful if the other could be assimilated or, if necessary,
eliminated.

Any
implication that there is a degree of moral
equivalence is itself seen as verging on treachery,
betrayal and subversion, as argued prior to "Abu
Ghraib" by Jeane
Kirkpatrick (The Myth of Moral Equivalence, 1986) -- later US
Ambassador to the UN. However such an understanding of
"equivalence" itself assumes a binary logic in which the scales
of justice are as two-dimensional as conventionally depicted. Where the condition
involves multiple dimensions, any measurement of equivalence becomes more
subtle and nuanced -- as notably recognized in understandings of "poetic
justice".

And yet, as is to be seen at the time of writing, the question
has emerged as to the possibility of dialogue with the Taliban -- even the
possibility that they might be brought into a viable government in Afghanistan.
This is an instance in which the completely negative framing is nuanced,
possibly by a dubious logic of convenience: "talking with the good
Taliban",
etc. Essentially missing from any such "back channel" pragmatism
(Track II diplomacy),
whether cynical or not, is a framework within which the values of the other
can in any way be seen to be respected. This is particularly striking when
a "primitive"
force, readily recognized as the antithesis of "universal" values,
has remained essentially unconquered despite the application of historically
unprecedented military resources over nearly a decade.

Taxonomies of dramatic situations

It could be argued that the spectrum of dynamics of relationships
between "us" and "them" is reflected to a fairly high
degree in literary explorations and folk tales. These are necessarily obliged
to recognize the subtleties through which protagonists play out their relationships
over time -- beyond any initial binary stand off. They encompass and hold
a higher degree of complexity which is only recognizable, if at all, as implicit
in the binary condition. They include dynamics such as enantiodromia --
perhaps embarrassingly evident in the manner in which the USA and Russia
have progressively taken on each other's characteristics and borrowed each
other's narratives, however much this may be denied.

A fictional
plot is the sequence of interrelated events
arranged to form a logical pattern and achieve an intended effect. The classic
approach to organizing the dynamics of such plots is that of Georges
Polti (The
Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations, 1916) who endeavoured to categorize
every dramatic situation that might occur in a story or performance -- building
on the earlier work of Carlo
Gozzi.

Jon Adams (Plot
Taxonomies and Intentionality, Philosophy and Literature,
32, 1, April 2008) considers that most of these thirty-six situations
are so vague as to admit almost any plotline, and certainly with too
many plotlines as to successfully serve as boundaries. In trying to capture
the widest range of variables, the categories become hopelessly labile.
Adams argues that:

Organising literature into any classificatory scheme is an attempt to
achieve something like the coherence that the natural sciences have achieved -- in
chemistry and physics with the composition of the Periodic Table, and in
biology with Linnaean classification. Much of science's epistemic prestige
is rooted in the enormous success with which they have organised and categorised
their subject of study. In searching for mechanism and pattern, the natural
sciences proceed confidently from the belief that those mechanisms and
patterns exist to be discovered, and that (relatively) simple rules underlie
the manifest complexity of natural phenomena.

Unfortunately, the study of literary fiction has no such security. There
are two senses here in which we can talk of literature being patterned.
At the micro-level, we have the question of whether individual works can
be thought of as internally patterned.... Even so, if this sort of centre
cannot be found in the individual work, it may yet obtain between works.
In other words, The Cantos or Finnegans Wake may yet occupy nodal roles
in a larger system, within which they acquire a previously unrecognized
unity and order. This type of organization is something the individual
author is obviously in a much less suitable position to control. Nonetheless,
mapping out this larger, macro-level order is a task that literary criticism
might want to take on.

Two: Aristotle distinguished comedy and tragedy,
reducing the number of plots to two. Tobias (2003) acknowledges that the
20 he identifies can also be reduced to two: "plots
of the body" and "plots of the mind."

Three: The number of plots identified, semi-comically,
by William Foster-Harris (The Basic Patterns of Plot, 1959).

Nine: The number of plots identified by John Carroll
(The Western Dreaming, 2001).

Thirteen: Wallace Hildick (Thirteen Types of Narrative,
1970)

Nineteen: The basic effects underlying all magic
tricks as identified by Dariel
Fitzkee (Trick Brain, 1944), considered, with associated
works, to be one of the major contributions to the theory of magic. The
number and types continue to be disputed.

Twenty: The number of basic, major plots or more effective
(Ronald Tobias, 20
Master Plots And How to Build Them, 2003; Tennessee Screenwriters
Association, Twenty
Basic Plots, 2002). Two of them are recognized as occasionally
combined. Tobias considers that many of the 36 identified by Gozzi
and Polti are no longer used ("because they seem hopelessly out
of date"). These are now widely used in the education of creative writing.

Thirty-one: The set of narrative functions (or narrative
units) of dramatis personae, as identified by Vladimir
Propp (Morphology of the Folk Tale, 1928). He argued that
the limited number of functions of characters serve as stable, constant
elements in a tale, independent of how and by whom they are fulfilled.

Sixty-nine: An estimate of the total number of basic
story lines allegedly identified by Rudyard
Kipling, regarded as a major "innovator in the art of the short story"

As Jon Adams indicates these might be considered as variously aspiring
to be an artistic version of the Periodic Table. However, in the light of
the history of the evolution of that table, the various proposals might be
understood as particular "takes" or
understandings of a complex underlying pattern of periodicity that continues
to be a focus of exploration in the relevant sciences (J. W. van Spronsen,
The
Periodic System
of Chemical Elements; a history of the first hundred years, 1969; Eric
R. Scerri, The Periodic Table: its story and its significance,
2006).

The question is whether these enable a richer understanding of the relation
between "us" and "them" -- if an attempt was made to
describe the dynamics of such relationships as a form of narrative, rather
than being locked into a binary box. No classic western, or other good-guy/bad-guy
movie, would get away with the simplifications of discourse through which
the political conflicts of the current period are articulated. Represented
as such, they are indeed inherently boring. There is only so much the media
can do to sustain interest (and ratings) with framing the good guys as purely
angelic and the bad guys as unredeemably demonic. According to the distinction
of Aristotle, this can only then be seen as either tragedy or comedy --
if not a tragi-comedy.

The argument here is that such frames could be used to categorize the conditions
and dynamics of the currently ongoing conflicts which call for richer insight
-- commensurate with the expectations of media audiences around the world
and the eternal enthusiasm for good stories, especially those enabling individual
and collective learning. What lessons with regard to engagement in "us-and-them"
dynamics are to be derived from the skills acquired by creative writers
with respect to "common denominators" of plot development,
such as those advocated by Tobias (2003)? How do such common denominators
reflect the challenges of conflict and tension which, paradoxically, it is
typically sought to eliminate in conflict
resolution?:

Tension must be the fuel: whether in the form of
conflict, frustrated intention, or blocked movement

Tension is created through opposition: with the antagonist
thwarting the protagonist, a distinction being made between local tension
(rejection of relationship) and long lasting tension (a behavioural
pattern which engenders rejection); the tension mayu be internal or external.

Tension has to grow as opposition increases: progressively
increasing in intensity through serious conflicts to a climax.

Change needs to be the point of the
story: meaningful events should engender change, notably in the personality
or behavioural patterns of those centrally engaged in them.

When something happens, it has to be important: otherwise
it should be omitted from the development of the plot, since an excess
of secondary plotlines dilutes the central tension.

The
causal should appear casual: Although a plot requires that important
new events emerge as a result of cause-effect relationships, their emergence
is more effective to the extent that it is more natural.

Blind luck is not used as a plot element: the
plot needs to develop in a world created with its own coherent set of
rules, such that there is a reason for when something happens, rather than
happy coincidence or a miraculous event out of context.

The central character performs the
central action of the climax: the final transformation is then
highlighted as a condition of no return.

Systematic elaboration of binary coding

The standard binary coding, as originally inspired by the elaboration of
the classical Chinese system of trigrams and hexagrams, offers another way
to approach the relationship between "us" and "them".
This is inherently much more systematic. In that system the basic distinction
is denoted by the use of a "broken" and an "unbroken" line
-- named as representing the principles of yin and yang.
However in exploring the elaboration based on this distinction it is most
relevant to recall the insight of Xavier Sallantin (L'épistemologie
de l'arithmetique, 1976). That is the assumption
projected onto any such coding as to whether "broken" is to be
positively valued as "good" (etc) or negatively
valued as "bad" (etc). This assumption is contextual to the coding
system and prior to any further consideration of it. It determines how the
coding system is to be read. Clearly the coding system can then be read
in one of two ways, depending on the preferred reading or some prior unconscious
bias.

Arbitrarily, for example:

"unbroken" might
code for "us",
the "good
guys", with "broken" as code for "them", the "bad
guys" -- here "unbroken" has associations to principled, etc. with
"broken" implying relative weakness

alternatively, "broken" might code for the "good guys" (implying an
open society, coexisternce of alternatives, etc), with "unbroken" coding
for the fundamentalist rigidity of the "bad guys"

Using the first alternative, the coding system
could then be elaborated as follows.

Level 1

"good" (="Us")

"bad" (="Them")

Obviously a great deal is projected metaphorically onto this arbitrary coding,
notably (by extension) to issues relating to gender and sexuality. The consequences
of the arbitrary coding are therefore potentially fundamental. Matters become
more complex, allowing for a wider range of interpretations, if the coding
is now elaborated to a Level 2, rendering explicit aspects that were
effectively implicit in Level 1.

Level 2

2.1

2.2

2.3

2.4

(doubly) "good"

"good" dominating "bad"

"bad" dominating "good"

(doubly) "bad"

Here the conditions 2.2 and 2.3 are used to highlight well-recognized situations
:

2.2: where the "good guys" are exerting a dominant influence,
despite being undermined by the "bad guys"

2.3: where the "bad guys" are exerting a dominant influence, despite
the valiant struggle of the "good guys"

Of course 2.1 implies a comfortable cocoon of "just us" -- all
unquestionably good -- recognizing that elsewhere may prevail a situation
of "just
them" -- all bad. A more complex
pattern may exist at Level 3.

Level 3

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

3.5

3.6

3.7

3.8

In this range of conditions, yet more complex situations are recognized
between the extremes of (triple) "goodness" or "badness",
in which the conditions of "goodness" or "badness" emerge
and combine more surreptiously. The eight conditions are those identified as
fundamental to Chinese philosophy as the ba
gua.
Of course inability to distinguish eight such conditions would mean that
Level 3 was collapsed into Level 2, or even into Level 1 (in the mindset
of the Coalition of the Willing and of the crudest cowboy movie).

The subtlety of the distinctions at Level 3 may then be understood as of
a kind with those of the 7 to 9 narrative plots noted above:

Twenty: The number of basic or major plots (Ronald Tobias, 20
Master Plots And How to Build Them, 2003; Tennessee Screenwriters
Association, Twenty
Basic Plots, 2002). Two of them are recognized as occasionally
combined. Tobias considers that many of the 36 identified by Gozzi
and Polti are no longer used ("because they seem hopelessly out
of date")

Again the elaboration may be continued to Level 5, by the addition of a
further line.

Level 5 (32 conditions)

The distinctions made at this level are of a kind with those made with respect
to the following sets of narrative plots:

Thirty-one: The set of narrative functions (or narrative
units) of dramatis personae, as identified by Vladimir
Propp (Morphology of the Folk Tale, 1928).

It is a 6-line hexagram which distinguishes the 64 conditions of the classical
Chinese scheme of the I
Ching. Of particular relevance to this exploration of the dynamics
between "us" and "them" is that this scheme has been
understood as a way of distinguishing situations in patterns of change --
and has been valued in governance for that reasons. It is much more elaborate
than any used in the western-dominated strategic thinking of global society.

These distinctions are of the same order as the 69 basic stories allegedly
identified by Rudyard
Kipling according to Tobias [original reference not
located]

In the I Ching and its commentaries the distinctions between these
conditions are explained through extensive use of metaphor.

The
question here is of course whether the metaphorical language through which
such conditions are explained can be reframed to be of relevance to any relation
between "us" and "them" -- between the "good guys" and
the "bad guys". Specifically,
does such a pattern allow all Israeli-Palestinian situations to be appropriately
positioned -- always recognizing the alternative readings which each would
give to the pattern in terms of who is "us" (and "good")
and who is "them
(and "bad")? The same is of course true in the USA-Taliban standoff.

This commentary on the I Ching coding is necessarily brief and
purely indicative. As a system on which many have commented over centuries,
far more insightful perspectives can be brought to bear on the matter. Perhaps
a relevant question is why such possibilities are not explored, given the
bloody stupidity which continues to characterize the ongoing dynamics between "us" and "them".
These are dynamics in which we all play our roles and occupy conditions (of
which we are largely unconscious) in reinforcing those dynamics -- and the
vicious cycles of violence that our collective mindset is supposedly unable
to break (Dysfunctional
Cycles and Spirals: web resources on "breaking the
cycle",
2002).

Periodic table of relationships between "us" and "them"?

As noted above, the struggle to detect order in an elusive pattern is well-highlighted
by the history of the Periodic
Table of Chemical Elements -- and the continuing struggle regarding
understanding and representation of that pattern of qualitative properties
in the light of more sophisticated understandings of relationships from mathematics
(Denis H. Rouvray, et al, The
Periodic Table: Into the 21st Century, 2005; The
Mathematics of the Periodic Table, 2005). The synthesis represented
by that table is upheld as one of the most fundamental achievements of
science.

It is no wonder that
there is an array of assertive proposals regarding the spectrum of plots
characterizing human relations. The historical (and continuing) debates
regarding the numbers of chemical elements in groups, or their attribution
to such groups, provides an admirable indication of the nature of such
a process of distinction in pursuit of some form of closure. Ironically the
challenge is one shared by both the "two cultures".

Possible mapping of "us-and-them" relationships

With the focus here on "us-and-them" relationships, the question is whether
there are insights to be obtained by confronting:

the groups of distinctions of narrative plots as holding insight into
what relationships are held to be meaningful in the tales by which people
are entertained and engaged -- but which offer a sense of reality to the
extent that they dramatise value-based existential choices in the dance
between "us" and "them".
Arguably the "attractiveness" of a tale is intimately related
to the dynamics of its function as a strange
attractor, as explored elsewhere (Human
Values as Strange Attractors: coevolution of classes of governance principles,
1993)

the conditions distinguished in the I Ching, at different levels
of elaboration, as described through metaphoric mini-tales -- which
retain a sense of the challenge of "us-and-them", especially in relation
to decision-making

the cognitive clusterings, in terms of qualitative attributes, of elements
in the Periodic Table -- held to be credible and meaningful in
explaining relationships between "distant" elements in the table

Furthermore, although there may be a degree of
agreement on the number of elements in any one set, the qualities so distinguished
by different authors may differ. This is typical of the early struggle with
the Periodic Table -- and continues to this day with consideration of possible
extensions to it. The challenge is partly a cognitive one, appropriate to
the existential nature of the encounter between "us" and "them" --
what makes a cluster credible.

Possibility of an "eightfold way"?

The group most fundamental to the I Ching and the Periodic Table
is that of 8. Bearing in mind what might be signified by Miller's "plus
or minus 2", the three sets of narrative plots distinguishing "us-and-them"
relationships at this level (as noted above), offer the following.

"Eightfold masterplots"
Derived from various
listings of masterplots
(notably that at Everything2)

What is exceptionally interesting about the periodicity of the Periodic Table is that it is not a "mechanical" repetition of groups of 8, as is
characteristic of the I Ching. As discussed separately (Possible
cognitive implications, 2009), the manner
in which the Periodic Table breaks out of simplistic patterns is suggestive
of a fruitful distinction between "superficial" comprehension and "deep" learning
-- with the former potentially modelled by "outer" shell development and
the latter by "inner" shell development, and with the former needing on occasion
to await for completion of the latter before progressing further.

Cognitive or memetic "vitamins"?

Tables of distinctions such as those above raise the question of who is
capable of making and appreciating such distinctions. The point however
is that such distinctions are readily recognized in popular culture through
appreciation of the situations and evolution of dramatic plots.

This highlights
the question of whether the detection of some sets of narrative plots is
especially sensitive, within the pattern as a whole, to qualities analogous
to the outer or inner transition
elements. In any attempt at mapping, this might, for example, be the
case of the:

Nineteen: The basic effects underlying all magic
tricks as identified by Dariel
Fitzkee (Trick Brain, 1944), considered, with associated
works, to be one of the major contributions to the theory of magic. The
number and types continue to be disputed.

Twenty: The number of basic or major plots (Ronald Tobias, 20
Master Plots And How to Build Them, 2003; Tennessee Screenwriters
Association, Twenty
Basic Plots, 2002). Two of them are recognized as occasionally
combined. Tobias considers that many of the 36 identified by Gozzi
and Polti are no longer used ("because they seem hopelessly out
of date")

Again it should be stressed that the issue is not the "reality" of
such distinctions "in reality" but rather whether the human mind,
even across cultures, tends to detect and distinguish categories in sets
of a size preferred size -- perhaps due to particular constraints on memory
and its facility for "chunking" information. However, even with
ca. 20 categories of familiar plot situations, the mind is much challenged
to remember the set as a whole and to name the categories in that set.

With respect to the set of approximately 20 -- the most widely cited --
it is therefore intriguing that much has been made of the mapping of vitamins
onto the system of the I Ching. The 20 different amino acids used
by living cells to encode proteins are directly encoded for protein synthesis
by the standard genetic code. A number of authors have explored the relationship
between the coding system of I Ching hexagrams and amino acids
(Archetypal
otherness -- "DNA vs. I Ching", 2007). Potentially more
interesting is the possibility of "cognitive vitamins", with the
requisite variety of Level 6 to encode for a healthy, sustainable psycho-social
system (cf Deficiencies
in the information diet, 2008).

Distinguishing patterns in strategic games
between "us" and "them"

The narrative language of "plots" suggests the possibility of mapping ongoing
dynamics in the case of US-Taliban, Israel-Palestine, etc onto such a Periodic Table. Ironically, any movie dramatisation of those conflicts effectively
has to pick out plot elements from the above tables in order to render the
movie meaningful as attractive entertainment -- however tragic the storyline.
The classic dramatic moment of George Bush's "Mission
Accomplished" maps
neatly into such a table, for example.

This highlights the extent to which audiences have an innate capacity to
grasp distinctions which are typically collapsed in "us-and-them" discourse
purveyed as responsible diplomacy within the international community. There
is little trace of the capacity to make such distinctions within that community.
Do "bloodless categories" make for
"bloody conflict"?

Of related relevance in the narratives which refer
to deity under some form is the extent to which such conflicts are of course
driven by faith-based issues, irrespective of the secular pretensions of
the international community. Curiously such discourse ignores the categories
which may be in large part responsible for driving the conflict. To what
extent, for example, does reference to "God" or "Allah" figure
in US foreign policy discourse with "them"?

One potentially relevant classic Chinese perspective is that of the 36
stratagems (Gao Yuan, Lure
the Tiger Out of the Mountains: the 36 stratagems of ancient China, 1991; Harro von Senger, The 36
Stratagems for Business: achieve your objectives through hidden and unconventional
strategies and tactics, 2005). It would be interesting to explore
the possibility of any mapping of these strategems onto the dramatic situations
of Polti.

Such a perspective is also partially offered through transactional
analysis as an integrative approach to the theory of psychology and
psychotherapy. It is notably focused on the analysis of interpersonal games
(necessarily "us-and-them"), namely as a series of transactions
that is complementary (reciprocal), ulterior, and proceeds towards a predictable
outcome. Such games are often characterized by a switch in roles of players
towards the end. Games are distinguished as:

First Degree Games, socially acceptable in the players' social circle.

Second Degree Games, that the players would like to conceal, though they
may not cause irreversible damage.

Third Degree Games, that could lead to drastic harm to one or more of
the parties concerned.

Mining global cultures for narrative wisdom

Understood as a project exploring the possibility of mapping sets of narrative
elements, beyond those identified above, there is a case for determining
to what extent other popularly known sets could enrich the exercise. Possible
sources include:

Jataka Tales:
A set of 547 Sanskrit poems adapted to a number of Asian cultures

Panchatantra: Sanskrit
animal fables in verse and prose that has proven to be significant in its
adaptation into a number of cultural versions. It has been argued that
humans can assimilate more about their own habitually unflattering
behavior if it is disguised in terms of entertainingly configured stories
about supposedly less illustrious beasts than themselves.

Aesop's Fables (Aesopica): A
collection of fables credited
to Aesop with
a variety of cultural adaptations. A current online
collection records some
655, indexed in table format, with indication of associated morals.

Nasrudin tales (Nasreddin):
A legendary Sufi mystic claimed as their own by many nations of the Near,
Middle East and Central Asia. More than 600 tales exist recounting his
actions and comments. These have been described as illogical yet logical,
rational yet irrational, bizarre yet normal, foolish yet sharp, and simple
yet profound -- typically expressed with great simplicity.

Of relevance to the argument here is a classic Nasrudin tale -- when someone
shouted to him from the opposite side of a river: "Hey! how do I get to the
other side?", Nasrudin replied "You are on the other
side!"

There is a case for integrating such folk wisdom, appropriately "organized",
from across cultures currently in conflict in order to frame a larger space
of discourse -- however this might be achieved. In terms of the metaphors
implict in such understanding, a strong case for exploring them has been
made by Susantha Goonatilake (Toward
a Global Science: mining civilizational knowledge, 1999). A fundamental
question is why such "jewels" or "nuggets" are so widely and popularly valued
over centuries -- in comparison with the injunctions of modern governance
and the enjoinders of various other authorities empowered by newfound skills
of "spin"..

A challenge for the future is to determine how items of "wisdom",
as variously understood, can be fruitfully interrelated and configured to
constitute a larger pattern. The issue is one of cognitive cybernetics --
of determing necessary checks and balances (as feedback loops) and learning
pathways. This goes beyond the pioneering effort of Victor S M De Guinzbourg
(Wit
and Wisdom of the United Nations: proverbs and apothegms on diplomacy,
1961) published by the United Nations. An indication in this systemic direction
is the effort of cybernetician Russell
Ackoff (The Art of Problem Solving: accompanied
by Ackoff's Fables,
1978).

Dancing with a shadowy other

A related approach to reconciling the Periodic Table with the I Ching,
in terms of contemporary strategic issues, is that building on the classic
insight of the notorious poem of Donald
Rumsfeld as US Secretary of Defense (Unknown
Undoing: challenge of incomprehensibility of systemic neglect, 2008).
This deals with the challenge of the "unknown unknowns" which tends
to be a theme in any narrative and is fundamental to the expectations of "us-and-them"
relationships and their current embedding in vicious cycles of violence. In
the strategy of the Coalition of the Willing in Iraq, insurgents offered an
ideal shadowy foil on which "evil" could readily be projected without challenge.
They constituted a prime source of the unknown and ensured that the outcome
of any strategy was equally unknown.

A shadowy other is also well represented by the traditional use of the burkha
by Muslim women in Afghanistan -- a justification for any action liberate
them. This justification is in process of replication in France where wearing
the burkha is considered unacceptable by its president -- in a society that
has provided recent leadership in equating various degrees of nudity with
freedom. The irony of the efforts of western missionaries to equate the
decency of indigenous peoples with their use of clothing has been lost.
This process is offering a powerful illustration of how the space of multidimensional
dialogue is effectively collapsed into a Level 1 prohibition of the burkha
as a symptom of "evil". It demonstrates the inadequacy of the "scales" by
which justice is depicted as inadequate to more complex considerations. (cf Burkha
as Metaphorical Mirror for Imperious Culture?, 2009).

The cognitive reduction of variety is well-illustrated through the metaphor
of a piano keyboard that provides for music across a range of octaves. The
music can be simplified, "barbarically", to a single octave (Level 3) for
which there are black and white keys. In a further act of barbarism, it could
be reduced to playing only the "white" keys -- framing the "black" keys as
"evil". It is by such processes that highly unstable dysfunctional situations
are engendered, when distinctions vital to sustainability at one level are
collapsed through apprehension at a lower level -- an exercise in "subunderstanding"
(Magoroh
Maruyama, Polyocular Vision or Subunderstanding?Organization
Studies, 2004).

This raises the interesting question as to whether the future will
explore the possibility of moving beyond a binary system of ajudication
(guilty or not-guilty) to one with a a wider spectrum of pleas and outcomes
-- currently significant in the major scandals of the release on compassionate
grounds of the "Lockerbie
bomber" and of the gender
verification of a South African athlete. Curiously,
in dealing with threat and danger from the unknown, like other countries
the USA distinguishes a 5-level Defense
Readiness Condition (DEFCON). This is a measure of the progressive
postures of activation and readiness of the armed forces. As an intermediary
distinguishing capacity between Level 2 and Level 3 (above), it is fortunate
that the range of distinctions has progressed beyond Level 1-- although this
level presumably governs many processes of engagement with those are appropriately
turbaned to fit the profile of a potential insurgent in Afghanistan.

It is curious that Level 1 distinction capacity is so widely reinforced
in competitive sports involving the engagement of opposing parties (football,
tennis, etc). Again it might be asked whether the future will develop ball
games in which four parties oppose each other in pairs across the same terrain
(as in bridge), with whatever degree of collaboration this may involve to
render the result more interesting. Could six parties, or eight (variously
coloured), play across a terrain in this way -- using different
balls and goals (or sharing them).

The commitment to Level 1 modalities is only too evident in parliamentary
governance -- with a majority government and an opposing minority, each equating
its own policies with "good" and those of the other as "evil".
This dangerously simplistic pattern collapses any richness potentially associated
with the various policy commitments of a multi-party system. It is believe
that "agreement"
with the majority and "disagreement with the "minority" is
the essence of democratic government.

As previously discussed (Governance through Metaphor,
1987), whilst sport, whether in the intricacies of American football or the
subtleties of cricket, can provide a rich source of metaphors, the question
remains whether such metaphors offer the variety and the richness appropriate
to governance of complex societies. It is possible that Japanese skills in
governance are superior, at least within their own culture, precisely because
they draw on metaphors of greater depth and richness. These points also raise
the question as to the best methods for enabling students to acquire access
to metaphors which will be valuable to them subsequently in strategic decision-making.
Sport and military service may in this sense have greater relevance than
poetry.

Martial arts, catastrophe and metaphorical geometry

Eastern martial arts tend to distinguish eight "directions of unbalancing" (kuzushi in
Judo and Kendo) -- consistent with a Level 3 insight. These may be associated
with eight compass directions (in two dimensions) in which an opponent may
be moved so as break their balance. In three dimensions they might be understood
as the eight corners of a cube within which the fighter is centered. In Aikido
these eight directions are understood as ways to move one's body (Unsuko),
to move one's opponent (Kuzushi), or to throw one's opponent
(Tsukuri).
The eight directions and five postures (above) have been combined in different
martial art traditions through movements, techniques, "energies", "gates", "stances" or "powers" (cf
Michael P. Garofalo, Thirteen
Postures of Taijiquan: Eight Gates and Five Directions, 2005). There
is a fundamental recognition of the shadowy nature of the dance with the
opponent (Michael P. Garofalo, Cloud
Hands Taijiquan and Qigong Guides, Bibliographies, Links, Resources).

A special advantage of Japanese culture, for example, lies in the blending
of martial arts (aikido, kendo, etc) with poetics, philosophy and the aesthetics
of the tea ceremony, as exemplified by bushido as a whole approach to human
and social development (cf Ensuring
Strategic Resilience through Haiku Patterns: reframing the scope of the "martial
arts" in
response to strategic threats, 2006). with respect to narrative functions,
it is therefore interesting to note the comment by Marvin A. Carlson (Theories
of the Theatre: a historical and critical survey from the Greeks to the present,
1993) highlighting the possibility of a formal mathematical approach to such
matters:

Articles on mathematical analysis of theatre by nine Romanian mathematicians
and aestheticians consider the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic aspects
of drama through strategies derived from system theory, cybernetics, and
the computer sciences, as well as from the mathematical fields of graph
theory, combinatorics, logic, code theory, probability, game theory, and
formal languages. (p. 494)

Carlson notes that in his introduction, Solomon
Marcus (The Formal Study of Drama, Poetics, 6, 3/4 December
1977) suggests that
the typology of catastrophe theory, as proposed by Rene Thom,
as a promising tool for the analysis of drama and theatrical plotting
that involves
"gradual evolutions having discontinuous, abrupt effects". It has
long been recognized that in drama, particularly the tragedies of classical
antiquity, the catastrophe is
the final resolution in a poem or narrative plot, which unravels the intrigue
and brings the piece to a close.

It might be suggested however that the 8 different
"unbalancings" distinguished in martial arts could each be formally associated
as "catastrophes" with plot dynamics at Level 3. Stephen Watt (Postmodern/Drama:
Reading the Contemporary Stage, 1998) argues:

...as Thom explains, "in the theory of catastrophes...one attempts
to describe discontinuities that may occur in the evolution of a system" Catastrophe,
then, connotes an overturning or change, an unpredictable behavior or trajectory
-- not necessarily disastrous change brought about by polarity or opposition.
Scientists call this "jump phenomenon," a sudden change of
equilibrium, a "phase transition, for instance, like water solidifying
into ice".
For the observer this appears to be a "sudden and substantial change
in the properties of the system" being observed. Postmodern narrative,
for many critics, forms one such system. For Baudrillard catastrophe theory
explains how the unnatural phenomena of modern life might be
overturned and how evolutionary "jumps"
from one "equilibrium point" to another might occur.
(pp. 137-138)

Such considerations highlight the need to explore more appropriate ways
of mapping "us-and-them" interactions beyond the conventional geometry of
the football field -- as a metaphoric terrain on which dominance can be aggressively
sought and domination resentfully accepted. The possibility of more complex
geometries, and their comprehension, is considered elsewhere (Metaphorical
Geometry in Quest of Globality: in response to global governance challenges,
2009). The "catastrophes" of relationships, like waves, can only be adequately
portrayed in dimensions greater than that of a 2-dimensional terrain.

Given the extent to which intellectual endeavour is bedevilled by the Level
1 framing of "two cultures", current preoccupation with the failure
of economics that engendered the financial crisis of 2008 merit consideration
of its status
"between" these cultures as explored by Donald
N. McCloskey (Economics:
Art or Science or Who Cares?, Eastern Economic Journal, 1994)
-- with reference to the above considerations:

The first news is that the "art-science" distinction beloved
by late-nineteenth century British writers is hard to defend. No one who
has looked closely at the matter over the past quarter century has found
seams in the universe that distinguish Art from Science. The linguist
Solomon Marcus, for example, wrote a paper in 1974 called Fifty-two
Oppositions between Scientific and Poetic Communication in which
he tried to drive a wedge between what gets written in the Eastern
Economic Journal and what gets written in Poetry. No go. Both use
metaphors. Both are rational and irrational, explicable and ineffable,
persuasive and expressive. Marcus did what amounts to an analysis of variance,
and found as much variation within as between science and (poetic) art.

McCloskey then continues:

The physicist Tullio
Regge remarked to Primo Levi [The
Periodic Table, 1975], the
chemist and writer, I liked the sentence
in which you say that the periodic table is poetry, and besides it even
rhymes.... Levi responded, The expression
is paradoxical, but the rhymes are actually there.... To discern or create
a symmetry, 'put something in its proper place,' is a mental adventure
common to the poet and the scientist.... Attempts
to distinguish art and science do not seem to work, though from the best
workers. Thomas Kuhn noted truly that we have
only begun to discover the benefits of seeing science and art as one.
But then he tried out a distinction anyway.

It is not irrelevant to the argument here that McCloskey "transitioned"
from male to female in 1995 at the age of 53 -- and is a recognized advocate
for the rights of persons and organizations in the LGBT community,
perhaps to be considered an appropriate example of Level 2 as a "quadrilemma"
(Paula Rodriguez
Rust, Transgendered Bisexuals: an identity quadri-lemma,
Society for the Study of Social Problems, 1998).

This "quadrilemma" clearly has implications for the Level
1 assumptions built into official population registration and statistics
worldwide -- a challenge whose proportions are likely to increase (cf
Deborah Cadbury, The
Feminization of Nature,
1997). Curiously reports indicate that it is now for the athlete to provide
proof of her femininity -- potentially contrary to the fundamental human
right regarding presumption
of innocence. The world operates on
the assumption that people are unambiguously either male or female -- and
notably institutionalizes such understanding in toilet facilities,
sport, religious practices and salaries. Disguising the extent and varying
degrees of gender ambiguity exemplifies the failure to recognize a more
general challenge, as argued above.

...even genetic testing cannot confirm male or female. In fact, it is
so complex that to do proper sex determination testing, you have to take
a multi-disciplinary approach, and make use of internal medicine specialists,
gynecologists, psychologists, geneticists and endocrinologists. I am afraid
that dropping your pants is not proof at all.

Does this not suggest that a potentially time-consuming "multi-disciplinary
approach" may well be appropriate whenever Level 1 simplifying assumptions
are made -- notably in conflict situations -- or when gender equality is sought
in a board room appointment? What is to be learnt from the little known
challenges of intersexuality,
as highlighted by the Organisation
Intersex International for example and the suggestions offered by such
as David T. Ozar (Towards
a More Inclusive Conception of Gender-Diversity for Intersex Advocacy and
Ethics, 2006)? Given the variety of forms of intersexuality, and
their incidence worldwide, does the widespread effort to suppress recognition
of such distinctions (as "abnormalities" requiring "corrective surgery")
offer a powerful metaphor of cultural inability to recognize and handle non-dyadic
distinctions in a wide variety of circumstances?

More provocatively, given that Semenya has a testosterone
level three times that of a "normal" woman [more],
should such an indicator in future be appropriate to adjustment of amy salary
differential prejudicial to a woman? Is a person incarcerated in Guantanamo
necessarily either "guilty"
or "not-guilty"? Is the gendering of prisons itself problematic,
especially when homosexual intercourse is common, although denied
(David Batty, Transsexual
prisoner wins move to women's jail, The Guardian, 4 September
2009). Should
people be called upon to prove unambiguously that they are not terrorists
or a danger to society?

Conclusion

The three seemingly disparate threads explored can be understood as having
a common feature in that each is concerned with a systematic approach to
transactions, whether in narrative, as a form of change (the I
Ching as
the Book
of Changes), or that between chemical elements. They might together
be understood generically as offering pointers towards a periodic table of
games or a periodic table of gameplaying.

It is appropriate to ask whether the proposed exercise in interweaving disparate
insights from narrative, the I Ching and the Periodic Table is
meaningful or totally inappropriate. Part of the answer lies in why it is
considered far more appropriate to base foreign policy (and its bloody
military enforcement) on the primitive binary logic of "us" and "them" --
arguing that "our civilization"
is existentially challenged by "theirs", with the codicil that "their's" must
necessarily be
"evil" (because "our's" is unquestionably "good").
Such a perspective, characteristic of competing faiths, is even held to be
non-negotiable.

Another answer might be framed as a methodological cognitive dilemma
of Scylla
and Charybdis and how to navigate between them. One cautionary articulation,
from communication of mathematical complexity, is that
of Anna
Sfaard (Steering
(dis)course between metaphor and rigor: using focal analysis to investigate
the emergence of mathematical objects, 2000; Disabling
Numbers: on the secret charm of the numberese and why it should be resisted,
2009).

One of the possible merits of a Periodic Table approach to learning is that
it is indicative of a way in which one might consider levels of discourse,
even possibly related to periods of learning. The basic "us-and-them" logic
after all bears a remarkable similarity to the dynamics of dialogue in the
first years of childhood -- which, however charming, tend to be tedious to
any mature media audience. What categories of "us-and-them" relationships
are associated with greater collective maturity and how do they emerge? The
more complex patterns noted above are readily recognizable in most plots
that are meaningful to adults. Why do they not figure explicitly in diplomatic
discourse -- set in a context of a pattern of potential relationships? Is
diplomatic discourse essentially childish?

Framed as above, does a Level 1 mindset predispose strategic thinking to
the "targetting" of any other, whether in a male-female relationship or with
respect to potential enemies? In the latter case, understandably, such targetting
readily takes the form of missiles, metaphoric or otherwise (Missiles,
Missives, Missions and Memetic Warfare: navigation of strategic interfaces
in multidimensional knowledge space, 2001). More curious from such
a perspective, given its role as the earliest human tool, "club" continues
to be a favoured term for groups concerned with governance (whether local
or global). What then is implied by "clubbing together"?

Previously Obama had demonstrated success in offering a coherent
underlying idea interrelating such disparate issues -- meaningful as such
to wider audiences. The issue with regard to "us-and-them"
binary logic is the manner in which it reinforces the inadequacies of policy
think at a time when integrative coherence is called for. This is the argument
for sets of metaphors, holding complexity, configured within a Periodic Table
respectful of learning processes in society. Is there the faintest possibility
that binary logic may be precluding detection of subtler possibilities than
the "two state" solution for the Middle East -- of which, ironically, the
challenges of intersexuality may offer a valuable metaphor?

Of course it can be appropriately argued that the framing of the above argument
(and that of Lakoff?) itself falls into the trap of binary logic. This highlights
the challenge of paradox and necessary self-reflexivity which should be appropriately
drawn into such considerations -- as with the alternative readings of any
coding system.

Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern. Build It to Understand It: ludology
meets narratology in game design space. Atlanta, College of Computing and
School of Literature, Communication and Culture Georgia Institute of Technology,
2005 [text]

Nancy Rubin. Us and Them: The Role of Women Today in Peacemaking. (Paper
at the United States Institute of Peace Conference Perspectives Peacebuilding:
The Roles of Women in War and Peace, 14 September 1999) [text]

Steering (dis)course between metaphor and rigor: Using focal analysis
to investigate the emergence of mathematical objects. Journal for Research
in Mathematics Education, 31, 2000, 3, pp. 296-327.

Disabling Numbers: On the secret charm of the numberese and why it should
be resisted. In: L. Black, h. Mendick and Y. Solomon (Eds.), Mathematical
Relationships: identities and participation. Routledge, 2009